Beverage giant reveals new core values

It’s been a period of significant change for beverage giant Frucor Suntory as just days after announcing its new name, the firm has also confirmed an overhaul of its core values.

According to one of the company’s top HR figures, the new tenets – Together, Go for It, Make a Difference – were adopted in an effort to future-proof the firm and strengthen workplace culture.

“The business is very focused on goals for 2030 so we knew we needed to do the same with values,” says leadership and culture director, Sally Cannan. “We needed to question whether the values we had were the right ones to deliver the cultural outcomes we were looking for to bring us to 2030.”

While developing the new core values was a lengthy process, Cannan says actually identifying them was fairly easy thanks to input from hundreds of employees.

“After 40 workshops in 21 locations involving 700 of our people over two months, the values almost chose themselves,” Cannan tells HRD.

“We knew it would be time consuming to hold 40 workshops but it was absolutely worth it. When people say the values feel natural, you know you’re on to a winner.”

Cannan also says that the new core values are now guaranteed to resonate with employees and are more likely to influence staff attitudes.

“There was no question that any change to values had to come from within if they were to continue to guide employee behaviour,” says Cannan. “People will never be as fully engaged with values unless they can actually create them themselves,” she explains.

“We gave every staff member the opportunity to tell us what’s working, what’s not and what they thought could work for the future,” continues Cannan.

For senior HR leaders who are considering revamping their own core values, Cannan has some key pieces of advice.

“You can’t do it on your own,” she stresses. “It’s absolutely a team initiative and it’s really important to get buy-in from the senior executive team from the get go.

“It’s also not about a bunch of words; it’s the way we work,” continues Cannan. “The words can be the same in any organisation but it is the way you bring them to life that makes a difference – and the more creatively you can do this, the better.”

Finally, Cannan encourages anyone in a similar position to reach out to other experienced industry figures.

“Come and talk to us!” she urges. “Talk to people who have been through the process and find out about the highlights and the pitfalls. Involve a range of stakeholders from the get go and make sure you’ve got senior leaders on board.”